Mobily garnered the Arabian Technology Award for 2009 in the field of telecommunications projects after its National Fiberoptic Network project won ahead of nominations by other Middle Eastern telecom companies at the annual ITP event in Dubai. Chief Technical Officer for Fixed Broadband Networks Mohamed Basafi received the award on behalf of Mobily. The ceremony was attended by leaders of telecom companies, airlines and real estate developers, as well as a number of government agencies. Basafi said he was delighted with Mobily's achievement, adding that the SNFN project won because it is a vital and viable strategic solution for high-tech services for government agencies and private businesses operating in the Kingdom. “This award goes to the operator that has best used IT to not only improve its business but to also enhance the customer experience and service levels” Basafi said. The Arabian Technology awards were established to recognize the companies, deployments and individuals that lead the Middle East market in terms of innovation and professional excellence. Mobily's fiber optic network will cover 12,000 Km of highways as well as cities Kingdom-wide. The network will represent a strategic option for Mobily, as it will be supporting and complementing its mobile network services by enabling it to provide other services of highly sophisticated technologies. Through this network, Mobily data-arm Bayanat Al-Oula will be able to provide high speed and cost effective data services to all sectors in KSA, including institutions, companies, enterprises and individuals. The network is constructed and deployed in phases with a total cost of one Billion Saudi Riyals. To ensure high unprecedented performance, a major international specialized company has been selected and signed the contract for the implementation of this project.
